June 15, 2018 saw the Real Estate Council of British Columbia overhaul the agency rules affecting more than 20,000 real estate agents in the province.
At the core is the banning of “limited dual agency” or LDA. LDA is when the real estate agent, with the permission of both the buyer and seller (or sometimes both buyers) in a transaction, agree to let one agent(or team) act as “moderator”.
During the transaction, the LDA agreement allowed the agent to bend his or her fiduciary duty to facilitate the sale. Acting alone and technically working impartially, the agent was able to control the transaction for the benefit of the seller and the buyer. This was the theory.
BC has taken the bold step to ban LDA and it’s exciting.
I am not here to debate the good and bad of LDA. It’s gone and this is fact. It is also fact that sellers and buyers will not fully understand what this ban will mean. Many people will need to rethink the way they approach buying and selling real estate in BC. Some will be happy, some sad and some confused… at first. In time, it is expected that consumers will come to realize the benefits of the new approach.
If you would like to learn more in a hurry, call your agent up for a coffee. There is a four page form they need to share with you. 😉